Believing in prayer

Sermon for Trinity Sunday

 

Why do we say the Creed every Sunday after the Sermon? Surely we know what we believe by now.

 

We believe the Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet there are not three gods but one God only. We know that this passes our understanding, but we also know that we want to make sure that we address God correctly. However, we say the Creed in one form of three at every service in the Anglican Catholic Church. Isn’t this overkill? Won’t this make our words a bit too easy to say?

 

[PAUSE]

 

Perhaps what we sometimes for get to appreciate is that we pray the Creed. We don’t just say it! This is why it’s part of our liturgy. Remember that liturgy means “work of the people” – it’s our job to do when we come to worship God.

 

In ancient times, the Mass was very obviously separated into two bits. The first part of the Mass was attended by everyone so that they could hear the readings and the Gospel. However, at the beginning of the second part of the Mass, all those who had not yet been baptised, those who were new to the Faith and those who were doing public penance of their sins had to leave before the sacrament of the Eucharist took place. In order to receive Communion, you have to believe. We are brought into a relationship with God.

 

It’s obvious why the people who had just turned up to the Church for the first time were not able to receive Communion. They did not have any idea what they were doing and needed, not just to be taught, but to become familiar with the Church. Let’s be clear, intellectual knowledge is not what you need to be a Christian. It’s not what you know, it’s Who you know. Thus, people new to the faith had not yet begun to form that relationship with God or His Church.

 

Likewise, sinners too, people who had fallen from the Faith, who had stolen, even murdered, were not allowed to receive Communion for a while – sometimes nearly twenty years. The reason why is actually clear: these folk had broken their relationship with God through their sin and need some time to re-forge that relationship.

 

[PAUSE]

 

In our Mass today, it is the Creed that bridges the gap between the first part of the Mass and the second. It is the moment when we say clearly Whom we worship. If we are going to receive Our Lord Jesus Christ in the sacrament, then we are going to need to believe that He is there and fulfilling His promise to us that we eat His Body and drink His Blood. However, if we believe in Jesus Christ, then we are going to need to believe in His Father Who sent Him, and the Holy Ghost Whom He sends and by Whom the sacrament happens.

 

Not only is our Creed a statement of our faith, it is a prayer for our relationship with God. It is a prayer that forces us to confront the immensity and incomprehensibility of God who is in three Persons and yet fully one.

 

That’s a lot of work to do but saying the Creed prayerfully is the beginning. The more we invest in our Liturgy, in our work to praise God, the deeper our relationship with Him.